Hi. Well, we're back. Many thanks to those of you who very kindly reviewed and said you wanted to see some more of this - we'll go a little further, and have a look at our girls as they emerge into the brave new world of Jori. Has becoming a couple changed them? Not a bit of it.

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Jade lay awake in the early morning light, staring at the ceiling. Beside her a faint snore told her Tori was still sleeping. Last night...

Whoa, wait. Reality check. Had last night really happened? She'd been caught out like this before, in the hotel room that time. She stole a glance at the girl beside her. Tori was laying, hair splayed out across the pillow, her shoulders bare, and Jade knew that if she slid her hand sideways she'd touch skin. Tori was naked. And if Jade closed her eyes, she could feel her own body humming in pleasure, singing a song she hadn't heard in years. Yes, last night had definitely happened.

Jade had always been insecure in many ways. It was part of the reasons that Tori had always gotten under her skin, because she had a knack of finding the cracks, tugging at the loose thread, threatening to expose her. But one of her many coping mechanisms for what she regarded as this devastating character flaw was to simply assume it wasn't there - if she pretended she was on top of things, there was always the chance that it might turn out to be true. And so when one thing began to lead to lead to another, she'd just gone with it. She couldn't do anything else - she'd turned both their worlds upside down by telling Tori she loved her, she couldn't very well ask her for a trial run before she made her final decision. She'd never really thought of either of them as being the sort of girls who'd go all the way on the first date, but their relationship was hardly starting from scratch - in effect they'd been dating each other for months, each trapped in a bubble of denial, and it had seemed entirely natural to take things as far and as fast as they could to make up for lost time. So she'd thrown herself into it with gusto, made all the running, almost pushing Tori towards the bedroom, and hoped to God that it would turn out okay.

And it had. Any last, lingering doubts about whether she really wanted Tori that way had disappeared as she watched Tori undress, had vanished as she'd seen her unclip her bra and hold it briefly in place, biting her lip coyly, before letting it fall, had evaporated completely as she'd slid her jeans off and stood there, wearing nothing but an expression of such wanton challenge that Jade had been surprised her own clothes hadn't spontaneously exploded off her body.

Jade had always assumed that Tori in bed would be much the same as Tori in any other circumstances - awkward, shy, enthusiastic but inept - but that hadn't turned out to be the case. That hadn't been the case at all. Tori in the sack was feline, sinuous, feral, going at it with a gleeful abandon that had left Jade, inexperienced as she was, struggling to keep up. Not that she hadn't tried. She knew that Beck had sometimes found her a little cold and unresponsive during sex, but then Beck was a guy, there was only so much reciprocation he needed - she sometimes wondered if he might have preferred it if she'd been asleep, at least that way he wouldn't have to talk to her afterwards. But Tori was different. Tori had a head start on her, previous experience, a benchmark to rate her against, and that just raised the next question…

"Hi."

She jumped. She'd been waiting so long for Tori to wake up that she'd failed to notice she had. She turned to her, and decided that the sight before her was probably the most beautiful thing she'd seen - morning Tori, still dishevelled from sleep, eyes half-closed, a faint, drowsy smile on her lips.

She smiled in return. "Hey."

Tori reached out a hand, and Jade watched as it slowly walked its fingers up her bare arm, across her chest, and, after a brief pause, finally poked her gently on the nose. She blinked in surprise, as Tori quickly withdrew her hand and pulled up the covers around her face until only her eyes were visible, and giggled. Jade laughed despite herself. This was probably something she was going to have to get used to. Waking up next to Beck had been a matter of a mumbled grunt and pushing him out of bed to make coffee, there was no playfulness, no laughter. He wasn't cute, and she'd never felt the need to be. She leaned across, over Tori, whose eyes grew wide behind her makeshift mask. She hooked a finger in the sheet, and pulled it down until Tori's lips were free, and kissed her.

"Are you okay?"

Tori shuffled closer to her side, and planted a kiss on her shoulder. "Yeah." She nudged against Jade's arm until she lifted it, and curled up with her head on the other girl's chest. Jade lay back down, feeling the warm breath on her skin, the fingers tracing lazy circles across her stomach. This was something else she was going to have to get used to. She'd given Tori an 'Access All Areas' pass to both her life and her body, given her permission to enter her personal space and violate her touch-taboo, and she suddenly felt incredible naked, laying here like this. But it wasn't a bad feeling. It felt wild, daring. She wondered if this was how Tori felt all the time, just throwing herself out there at the mercy of fate and taking what came, experiencing the good and the bad, never trying to control or filter what happened to her.

She was still pondering in this when she realized Tori's hand was tracing lower. She felt herself tense, but Tori didn't stop. She nuzzled into Jade's neck, lips brushing just below her ear. "Tori..."

"Hush."

"But-"

"Just relax and enjoy it."

Well, that was easier said than done. Just relaxing and enjoying things wasn't really how Jade rolled, but she guessed she could-

Sweet Mother of God.

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"I'm making breakfast!" Tori announced with a flourish, simultaneously knocking over a cup and sending a cloud of flour across the kitchen as Jade limped in to join her.

"Oh, good."

"And I thought, with this being a special occasion, and everything..."

Jade resisted the temptation to groan. A little voice scolded her - this is your new girlfriend, making breakfast for you on your first morning together. Be nice. On the other hand, another, more West-like voice said, this is the first day of the rest of your life. And every day of that life is going to involve eggy terror if you don't say something now. She looked at Tori's hopeful, flour-covered face, and decided.

"Great," she said. "What is it?"

"Pancakes."

"Well that sounds... wait, you actually know how to make pancakes?"

"Sit."

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The pancakes were surprisingly edible, and Jade sat, chewing thoughtfully, drinking coffee, and gazing at the most beautiful girl in the world stuffing food into her mouth with adorable gusto. Life, she mused, didn't get much better than this. As if on cue, her brain kicked in and started to make a nuisance of itself.

Ask her.

No.

Ask her.

No.

Ask her.

No.

Fine. If you're happy not to know.

Damn it. "Tori?"

"Yeah?"

Jade fiddled with her fork. "Listen, about last night..."

Tori's face fell. "You're not having second thoughts, are you?"

"What? No! No. Not at all. It's just..." She licked dry lips. "Was it all right?"

"All right?" Tori blinked in surprise. "Of course it was all right. It was amazing."

"Really?"

"You didn't like it?"

"No, I mean, yes, it was great. Fantastic."

"So..?"

"What I mean is... was I all right?"

"You?"

"Yeah. You know." She squirmed, awkwardly. "Was I... okay?"

Tori laughed. "Yes, Jade, you were 'okay'. You were very much 'okay'."

There was a pause. "Just okay?"

"What?"

I mean I've never really done that before, and-"

"It was great. Honestly."

"Right."

There was another pause. "I guess what I'm really saying is," Jade persisted, "was I as good as-"

"Stop," Tori said. "Stop right there." She sighed. "I thought it was only guys who did this."

"Did what?"

"All this. You know…" She put on a gruff voice. "'Was he better than me?' All that stuff."

"I'm not... well, okay, I guess I am," Jade conceded. "I just don't want you to be disappointed that's all. I don't want you to think you've taken a step backwards."

"A step backwards?" Tori looked at her, astonished. "Why would I think that?"

Jade shrugged, uncomfortably.

"All right, look," Tori said, firmly. "If you really want to bring this up now, then I kind of understand. But I'm only going to say it once. When I met Carla I was totally inexperienced. I didn't know anything, so I let her call the shots, and I just went with it because I didn't know any better. But with you, for the first time ever, I feel like I'm... free. Like I can be myself. Last night opened my eyes, because it was all about us. Not just you, not just me. Us. It was special. So please, for God's sake, don't waste your time worrying that you've got to prove something. I haven't taken a step backwards, I've taken a leap forwards, because now I know what it's like to be with someone who loves me, who cares about me."

"Really?"

"Trust me. I might not be an expert on anyone else, but I am on us. I've dreamed about this moment for years, and I've got to tell you, it was way hotter than I'd ever imagined, and I've imagined some pretty hot things. So shut your fat yap and accept it. You were great."

Jade didn't know what to say. Part of her was overwhelmed with relief, part of her felt unbearably smug. A little bit of her contemplated the possibility that Tori was lying to spare her feelings, but smugness and relief dragged it away to the back of her mind and stuffed it in a dumpster. Instead she held up her fork menacingly. "'Shut my fat yap'?" she echoed.

"Uh huh."

"You're telling me to shut my fat yap?"

"That's what I'm saying. Shut your fat yap and eat your pancakes."

"I see." She carefully put down her fork. "And what will you do if I don't?"

Uncertainty crossed Tori's face. "I'll... er..." She backed away towards the counter as Jade advanced on her with an evil glint in her eye. "Don't you touch me!" she warned. "I've got a..." she reached behind for something to defend herself with, "...an egg whisk! And I'm not afraid to use it."

"Oooh, kinky."

"What?"

"Come here!"

Tori shrieked, and made a run for it. Jade gave chase, with a grin. She didn't need a diploma - she had the Tori seal of approval, and nothing, nothing, had ever made her feel as good as that did.

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They lay side by side, panting. "Wow," Tori said.

"Wow," Jade agreed. They lay for a moment longer, bodies pressed together, basking in the afterglow. Finally, Jade raised her head to survey her surroundings. "You know," she said, inspecting a damp strand of hair, "I never in my wildest dreams thought that one day I'd find myself having sex on my kitchen floor in a pool of pancake batter."

Tori gave a noncommittal grunt. Jade turned and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"What?" Tori said, blushing. "I told you, I've got a very vivid imagination."

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Tori sat in the car, grinning her head off. Jade looked at her sideways. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Tori said. "I'm just happy, that's all."

"Why?"

"Because I'm out and about with my brand new girlfriend," Tori said, as though it was obvious, and it occurred to Jade that it probably was. She'd never made anyone happy before just by being there, and it was a little disconcerting.

"This is so weird, isn't it?" Tori went on.

"What?"

"Us. Being in the car like this."

"I have to say, Tori, you have a very low threshold for what constitutes 'weird'."

"No, I mean, it's weird to think that the last time we were in this car, we weren't going out."

"True."

"The last time I did this," she wound down the window, "we were just friends. The last time I did this..." She fiddled with the air conditioning. "I never imagined we'd have just slept together. And the last time I did this..." She changed the radio station. "I had no idea you loved me."

"Uh, huh," Jade said. "And the next time you do it, I'm going to chop your fingers off."

"Hey!"

"What? My car, my radio. Don't look at me like that," she said, as Tori turned to stare at her. "Just because I love you, doesn't mean I have to start being nice to you."

"Um, I'm pretty sure it does."

"What, really?"

"Yep."

"Is that a rule? Or more of a guideline?"

"Guess."

"Damn it." Jade frowned. "Whatever happened to 'treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen'?"

"It got revoked," Tori said. "Now it's, 'treat 'em mean, sleep on the sofa for a week'."

"You can't do that. We've only been dating for half a day, and anyway, it's my apartment."

"Lady's prerogative," Tori said, smugly.

"Oh, is it? Well I... Hey! I'm a lady."

"Then start acting like one."

"Why, you little... You know, you're lucky I love you, otherwise you'd be taking this trip in the trunk."

"But you do, so I'm not," Tori said, happily. "And I get to change the radio station whenever I like."

Jade smiled to herself at Tori's delight. This was always the Tori she'd liked the most, the little feisty one that gave as good as she got. And that loved her for doing the same.

Love. In most relationships, it took time to get to the 'L' word, as though confessing it was a commitment in itself, a step either was reluctant to take in case it wasn't returned. But it hadn't seemed strange to her or Tori - there had been no hesitation, no awkwardness about it, because it felt like it was already long overdue, as though the word had been waiting patiently for them all this time.

"So, does that make it onto the list?"

"What list?"

"Emotions. You know. You've got angry and horny. Does love make it in there?"

Jade thought. "Isn't it the same as horny?"

"I thought you said horny was just 'angry' with more sex?"

"So?"

"So what you're saying is that all your emotions are just different varieties of angry."

"What can I say? I've got a lot of angry to go around. It's kind of my speciality."

She could feel the side of her face burning under Tori's glare, and she relented. "Ok, fine," she said. "It's on the list."

"Top of the list?"

"Top three."

"Don't toy with me, West."

"Okay, it's at the top. Right up there. Number one with a bullet."

"That's better."

"But that's only because horny's having a rest after last night. And this morning."

"'Horny' is going to find itself in permanent retirement in a minute."

"Okay, fine. There is no list anymore. There's just love. I'm just one big ball of love."

Tori laughed. "Just one great big, bouncing ball of love."

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"… Are you saying I'm fat?"

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And so the bickering continues. Another chapter shortly, I hope, where they'll be breaking the news to Mr West, and Jade makes a decision...